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16 April 2019, 17:23
A singer from the touring musical ‘Cats’ happened to be walking by the public piano in St Pancras station, when she saw this man playing a tune – and decided to join in.
Singer Ceili O’Connor was filmed singing an impromptu version of the ballad ‘Memory’ from Cats with an old man on the free piano at St Pancras.
The moment was filmed by actor Matthew Rowland, who captioned the video “music is life”.
“I saw this guy playing and called Ceili O’Connor as I knew he needed a singing partner. Captured a bit of the magic here. “He was so sweet, saying Ceili ‘made his day’ and that she must be ‘in a show’.”
We’re on our way to Brussels for the next leg of @CatsMusical tour. I saw this guy playing and called @CeiliOConnor as I knew he needed a singing partner. Captured a bit of the magic here. He was so sweet, saying Ceili “made his day” and that she must be “in a show”. Precious x pic.twitter.com/Lx8oNfkO0b
— Matthew Rowland (@matthewrowlandx) March 18, 2019
The original video, in which Ceili sings ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ has gone viral with nearly 900,000 views on Twitter.
Ceili tweeted her reaction, saying she has been “overwhelmed” with the response.
“The real star is my lovely new friend on the piano who lifted us all by sitting down and playing his heart out. I could have sang with him all day.”
The clip was filmed just before the cast of Cats boarded a train to Brussels for the next leg of their tour.
Slightly overwhelmed with the response of the lovely video @matthewrowlandx posted today.Thank you for all the kind responses but the real star is my lovely new friend on the piano who lifted us all by sitting down and playing his heart out.I could have sang with him all day. ❤️
— Ceili O'Connor (@CeiliOConnor) March 18, 2019
Cats opened on the West End in 1981, and is one of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most successful musicals to-date.
A new movie adaptation of the story is coming to the silver screen in December starring Taylor Swift, Judi Dench and Idris Elba – find out more about it here.